Album Reviews

[gerard 6]

This week, we’re off to sunny Australia, home of kangaroos, the didjeridoo, and everyone’s Dad’s favourite heavy metal band, AC DC. Today we’ll be reviewing AC DC’s seventh studio album, Back in Black. Back in black was the first studio album with singer Brian Johnson, filling in for Bon Scott who choked on his own vomit after a night of heavy drinking (not the classiest way to go, but at least he died doing something he loved). After Scott’s death, the band scrapped a lot of half-written material and began writing from scratch with their new singer. The album that resulted told the world that AC DC was back, and ready to kick as much ass as ever.

 

Actually, I thought that I’d out-grown the album when I was around 15 years old but after spinning the CD in the car a couple of times in the last few days, I’d rank it among the best hard rock albums for a several reasons. For one thing, it’s riddled with rock anthems. “Hells Bells”, “Back in Black”, “You Shook me all night long” and “Rock and Roll ain’t noise pollution”, among others. These songs may have been over-played at one time, but listening to them again after well over two decades shows that they have aged really well –better than other 80’s rock bands like Guns and Roses (I would say) and certainly better than a lot of 80’s pop (Flock of Seagulls comes to mind - Ha). For a studio album, the line-up of songs sounds an awful lot like a greatest hits album. Although many fans missed the former singer, I’d say this was definitely the band’s peak.

 

The other thing I like about Back and Black is that it never stops rocking. In the 80’s, even the most evil heavy metal bands threw in the odd synth-driven ballad. We can probably all agree that with age, 80’s hard-rock ballads just sound LAME. Thankfully, AC DC don’t go that route. They don’t compromise. They just say; “We rock all the time!! We’re not gonna give you a chance to hold your lighter in the air and wave it back and forth while your rocker girlfriend sings along with a tear in her eye… so if you don’t like it, go see a Motley Crew show instead!.”

 

Finally, the guitar lines rip. As simple and straight-forward as the album sounds, Angus Young shows that he DOES have a lot of style and subtlety (though you have to listen very carefully to hear it). The riffs are always strong, and he even flashes the occasional glimpse of brilliance in his lead lines. I thought he was a bit of a hack, but he’s obviously practiced his scales enough too. Equally importantly, the tone and production are spot-on. A lot of 70’s and 80’s guitar tones sound either overproduced and cheesy, or just too thin. Young didn’t get fancy. He just stayed with what works. Gibson guitars and Marshall stacks (I think!). And they make great use of two guitarists. The second guitar line (his brother Malcolm) is sparse, but extremely effective and gives the album all of the fullness that contemporary rock bands have. State-of-the-art production of bands like Lincoln Park and all that ‘emo’ stuff has got nothing on these guys. Anyone who is learning the guitar or thinking of doing so should pick up Back in Black. It’s simple, (though often deceivingly so) very accessible, and it’s good clean fun.

 

4/5 stars.

 

[spook 0]

nice to read a straight-up review that isn't filled with all sorts of wank.

"hells bells" always gets me psyched, and when i'm getting messy at the pub "you shook me..." is always a sure fire winner

 

i give ger's review 4/5